ThinkingBlue

Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and broadminded, the other intolerant and narrow-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND BROADMINDED USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, et al reside in the other America!

Monday, December 24, 2012

26 Bells The Newtown Connecticut Children and Adam Walsh

Once Upon A
Time, on July 27, 1981, a little boy went shopping with his
mother at the Sears store in the Hollywood Florida Mall and never
came home.

A
beginning of a story that could have been my story; you see, I
shopped at the Sears store several times a week. I lived in the
neighborhood, as did Revé, John and Adam Walsh; my son was also
in the same class as Adam at the St. Mark's Lutheran school. The
news of Adam’s kidnapping and murder hit me very hard. I
would look at my son and feel so grateful that this, the most
horrific, devastating fate that a parent could ever endure, did
not happen to me. That feeling didn’t make me feel lucky or
special; it just made me realize that in this life, with a blink
of an eye, you can be hit with a devastating blow that will alter
the path of your short existence for the remainder of your days
on this Earth.

After
the abhorrent and gruesome incident that took place on December
14th 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown Connecticut, my thoughts turned back to the
time when Adam, a little boy, who because he became separated
from his mother for a few short moments, was projected into
defenselessness in a world full of demons and monsters. As with
the children of Newtown but instead of a separation from safety
to horror they were already subjected to terror just by living in
a Nation who allowed weapons of war to be bought and sold by its
citizens like so many pieces of candy.

I
have been blogging on these dangerous laws that our lawmakers
pass with hardly a thought, for some time now. A few examples
below:

The
only reward I get in trying to spread the word-- that
semi-automatic weapons or concealed weapons or guns in general
that can be waved around with little or no regulation, GUNS,
WEAPONS that can cause devastating misery through massacres in
which many people can be murdered at once within minutes-- is
that it allowed me to voice my anger but nothing else, it's like
spitting in the wind.

Deaf
Ears, so the saying goes, is what all the opinions against gun
violence, fell upon. A gnawing gut question keeps circling my
brain… “WHY?” A WHY, that no one seems to want to
answer, not truthfully anyway.

In
the case of Adam Walsh, his dad John Walsh did not allow the
“WHY?” to linger on, he was angry that there were no
mechanisms or databases in place for the immediate search and
rescue of kidnapped and exploited children, he set out to change
it.

After hearing the convoluted thoughts of Wayne
LaPierre (CEO of NRA) on TV the other day, I believe that he and
the many others who share such a mindset are the reason for the
gun violence in our country. He and his fellow 5th
column co-conspirators (I label them this, not
because they deliberately want to destroy Democracy but because
they don’t care if it is destroyed, money is the
bottom-line) are responsible for the deaths (indirectly or maybe
not so indirectly) of so many 'innocents' (all of us who want
only to live in peace). Please watch the video (below) '26 Bells'
from NBC, without a doubt the saddest reflection of how our
American Leaders have turned their backs on our precious
children.

26 BELLS

Terrorism
is well-established here in America, not by suicide bombers but
by maniacs with blood on their minds, who can get ahold of a
semi-automatic weapon with no effort WHATSOEVER and that is
frightening. thinkingblue

Read on: Adam John Walsh (November 14,
1974 – July 27, 1981) was an American boy who was
abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall
in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981, and later found
murdered and decapitated. Walsh's death earned national
publicity. His story was made into the 1983 television film
Adam, seen by 38 million people in its original airing.
Walsh's father, John Walsh, became an advocate for victims of
violent crimes and the host of the television program
America's Most Wanted.

Adam's kidnapping and murder prompted
John Walsh to become an advocate for victims rights. Adam
Walsh's murder was among those that helped to spur the
formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC). As a result of his advocacy, he was
approached to host the television program America's Most
Wanted.

The Code Adam program for helping lost
children in department stores is named in Walsh's memory. The
U.S. Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act on July 25, 2006, and President Bush signed it
into law on July 27, 2006. The signing ceremony took place on
the South Lawn of the White House, attended by John and Revé
Walsh. The bill institutes a national database of convicted
child molesters, and increases penalties for sexual and
violent offenses against children. It also creates a RICO
cause of action for child predators and those who conspire
with them.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO
Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law
that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts
performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The
RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows for the leaders
of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a
perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to,
for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he
did not actually do it.

GOP Acts Out The Terrible Two's Here Everyday But Now...

Today on my
Daily Kos Blog I was asked the question:thinkingblue
- help me understand ...

I am not sure how these treaties work. Does the US have to
approve this treaty for it to be effective? Or does each country
sign if they agree to abide by the treaty, independent of what
other counties do? If some number of member nations agree does
that have any bearing on countries that don't sign? If the ADA is
already in effect in the US does this treaty have a real impact
on the disabled in the US if we sign, or not?

A very good
question deserving a good answer, so I did a search and came up
with these sites: thinkingblue

"Before this convention, (treaty) disability was often
regarded as a disease or illness, but now we have realized
that disability is an interaction between a certain condition
and society. Society must help to eliminate disabilities
through accessibility, non-discrimination and protecting and
enforcing the same rights to everyone.“ - Vice chair of
the Ad Hoc Committee

What is a human rights convention?

A convention, or treaty, is a legally binding document
between 2 or more countries. A human rights convention is a
treaty that deals specifically with human rights. The
International convention on the Rights of People with
Disabilities is a “thematic treaty”, meaning that
it defines the human rights of a particular demographic (in
this case, the human rights of people with disabilities).

Is "signing" a convention the same thing as
"ratifying" it?

No. A country that signs the Convention becomes a signatory,
and a country that ratifies the convention becomes a States
Party. Becoming a signatory qualifies the state (nation) to
proceed toward ratification, and establishes an obligation to
refrain from any acts that violate the principles of the
Convention. Becoming a states party (ratifying nation) means
that the country agrees to be legally bound by the treaty. If
a nation both signs and ratifies at the same time, it is said
to "ascend".

What happens if a country decides not to sign or ratify a
convention?

First, a convention must be "adopted," which means
it becomes open for countries to sign. It is then up to each
country to decide whether it chooses to sign or ratify the
convention. Like most conventions, the CRPD requires that at
least 20 countries ratify it before it can "enter into
force." To "enter into force" means a treaty
becomes active, and the ratifying countries are required to
implement it.

Once the Convention becomes international law, the core
concept of equal rights for people with disability will
become the norm. As has occurred with other treaties, this
new recognition of basic human rights will begin to be
incorporated into the national laws of nations which
don’t ratify the Convention. This will benefit people
with disabilities who live in those nations, and may spur
additional nations to opt for ratification in the coming
years as their laws begin to include the rights guaranteed
under the Convention.

We have many other international human rights treaties. Why
aren’t those enough to protect the rights of people with
disabilities, too?

Unfortunately most of the existing human rights treaties
don’t mention people with disabilities. Also, when
governments monitor other treaties to ensure that they are
properly implemented, they often do not report information
about how these treaties affect people with disabilities.
Furthermore, the few older human rights instruments that do
mention people with disabilities do not address their right
to participate fully in society. Over time, the international
disability community came to realize that governments needed
guidance in applying human rights to people with
disabilities.

In the United States, we already have the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA). So why do we also need to sign and
ratify the CRPD?

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been
very important to the daily lives of many Americans with
disabilities, it does not, and cannot, fully cover all the
basic human rights to which people with disabilities are
entitled. The CRPD would supplement the power of the ADA to
ensure that people with disabilities have stronger access to
all the same human rights to which all people are entitled.
Also, if the United States signs and ratifies the CRPD, it
would help send a strong message to other countries that we,
too, support human rights for people with disabilities. This
may help inspire more countries to ratify the CRPD so that
more people with disabilities around the world can enjoy its
protections. MORE HERE: http://www.ratifynow.org/ratifynow-faq/

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

The Hands Of The GOP Are Quite Busy During 2012's End.

Republicans' Push America Over The Fiscal
Cliff, With One Hand, While Pushing the World's Disabled Under
the Bus With the Other.

Happy New Year
Republican Style.

thinkingblue

WASHINGTON — Former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas sat
slightly slumped in his wheelchair on the Senate floor on
Tuesday, staring intently as Senator John Kerry gave his most
impassioned speech all year, in defense of a United Nations
treaty that would ban discrimination against people with
disabilities.

Senators from both parties went to greet Mr. Dole, leaning in
to hear his wispy reply, as he sat in support of the treaty,
which would require that people with disabilities have the
same general rights as those without disabilities. Several
members took the unusual step of voting aye while seated at
their desks, out of respect for Mr. Dole, 89, a Republican
who was the majority leader.

Then, after Mr. Dole’s wife, Elizabeth, rolled him off
the floor, Republicans quietly voted down the treaty that the
ailing Mr. Dole, recently released from Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center, so longed to see passed. More
Here

About Me

Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and
free-thinking, the other intolerant and close-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND FREE-THINKING USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh et al reside in the intolerant America!